Council brawls over ethics accusations

Call it a coincidence.

During last week’s City Council meeting, after an ethics ordinance was finally approved, a series of ethic violations accusations erupted.

Councilmember Cathie Gordon started off by challenging fellow Councilmember Shahab Ahmed regarding his refusal to let go of a special set of street signs that were supposed to be installed on Conant to honor the Bangladesh community.

Gordon said Ahmed has been in possession of the signs for a year-and-a-half and was asked recently to return the signs to City Hall since he failed to install them.

She said Ahmed ignored the city’s request and since it appears he won’t release them, he should be charged for the signs.

Ahmed said he’s been holding onto the signs since last summer, not over a year, and that the reason the signs were not installed last year was because of “the chaos.” Gordon asked what he meant by that, and before Mayor Karen Majewski shut down the discussion, Ahmed blamed the delay on “political chaos.”

At that time there was a huge political rift – and there still is – in the Bangladesh community, with Ahmed supporters on one side and his opponents on the other side. Each side was attempting to orchestrate a ceremony to install the signs.

The upshot: the council will further discuss the issue at its next meeting.

That issue may have been shut down, but it wasn’t the end of the fireworks.

Gordon next took aim at Councilmember Scott Klein for directing City Attorney James Allen to investigate whether former City Manager Don Crawford violated an ethics code during the last few days he was employed.

Gordon said it’s not right for individual councilmembers to direct the city attorney to investigate issues without first getting council approval.

Klein countered that the City Charter allows councilmembers to interact with the city attorney without first getting a council resolution to do so.    

City Attorney Allen also pointed out that Councilmember Gordon has called him numerous times. That revelation sort of undermined Gordon’s premise and the discussion turned to the Hamtramck Housing Commission.

Gordon wondered aloud why Mayor Majewski did not reveal a letter from HUD, the federal housing agency that oversees all public housing agencies, in reference to whether Councilmember Al Shulgon has a conflict of interest. Gordon said she learned of this from a HUD official who had called her.

Shulgon is also a member of the Hamtramck Housing Agency. HUD allows commission members to also serve in other government bodies as long as a city’s population is less than 25,000.

Hamtramck officials have used the population figure from the 2000 census, which pegged Hamtramck’s population at about 23,000.

Majewski questioned why HUD was calling Gordon and said the conflict of interest issue is still being worked out.

Shulgon said there is also a second letter from HUD that Gordon should inquire about.

With that done, Councilmember Klein ended the evening with a swipe at Gordon, asking why she parks her van on a vacant lot next-door to her bar, the New Dodge Lounge, which is a code violation.

Gordon said the van has been moved.

And that capped the evening.